OTC SPOTLIGHT: Nicholas Ibarra

Nicholas Ibarra

By Steve Koehler

Nicholas Ibarra believes community colleges offer people an opportunity and he took advantage of the chance Ozarks Technical Community College gave him when he was a student.

Ibarra, who also spent five years in the U.S. Marines, is the Zone 1 councilman on the Springfield City Council as well as a sales representative for RGA, a local industrial products company.

“I had an excellent experience. I miss OTC, the campus atmosphere and the relaxed classroom setting,” Ibarra said, who remembers macroeconomics being an “eye-opening class” that he took during his time at OTC.

“I was learning the real-world applications of the class.”

Ibarra, who also spent five years in the U.S. Marines, is the Zone 1 councilman on the Springfield City Council as well as a sales representative for RGA, a local industrial products company.

Ibarra was familiar with OTC long before he started taking college classes in 2004. He took an auto mechanics class at the College when he was a student at Parkview High School.

“I learned I didn’t want to be an auto mechanic,” Ibarra said.

Ibarra took all of his general education courses at OTC and then transferred to Evangel University, where he is working on his degree in business management.

Ibarra recently became interested in public affairs and won election to the Springfield council.

“I was always interested in the role of government and thought I could be effective at a community level,” he said.

OTC is in the council zone that Ibarra represents and he likes what OTC contributes to the economic and educational needs of those in the area.

“I think one of the most important roles played by OTC is to connect to those who may not have any other opportunity to better their lives,” he said.

 Steve Koehelr is coordinator of publications at Ozarks Technical Community College.